Electric Bikes - Looks like a wrench in the works

I will be returning to a masters program in January and I checked with the school. It appears that any sort of a motor makes it a motorcycle according to school parking rules. Motorcycles are forbidden to be locked to any campus fixture.

So, I can not lock an e-bike and must park in the motorcycle lots. Back to plan A, which is to ride my motorcycle. It is just that is an ungainly large bike and I really did not want to ride it to school. Everyone, including the campus police, are telling me that I should just do the sensible thing and drive.

If it's sensible to just do as your told and keep giving big oil your money like you are supposed to...

Lock to a fixture that does not belong to the college?

How anal are they about that? I have seen scooters, obviously more motorcycle like than e-bikes, locked to bike lock things.

How anal are they about that? I have seen scooters, obviously more motorcycle like than e-bikes, locked to bike lock things.

I have been told that they are very anal. According to some current students they walk the bicycle parking areas daily and cut the lock off of, and seize, any bikes that do not have a current city bicycle license. So, they are looking at them pretty close.

(remember, the campus can then sell any seized property at auction, thus funding more bike theft... err... enforcement)

I would show them a copy of the federal rules that treat electric bikes as non-motorized up to to given size of motor. Then I would give them some stats on car pollution and how many people are killed each year by cars and then I would suggest they adopt the federal standards. I might try to find standards that other colleges use. That does sound like theft. If someone locks their bike on my property or parks their car, it doesn't mean I get to keep it. If that doesn't work, make a public stink about carbon footprint, their bike confiscation policy, etc. I am on our towns Non-Motorized Transportation Advisory Board and I have found that you can embarrass people into changing if you have to. Do they impound cars if the license is not current? Do they check to see if people have a proper driving license for cars or endorsements for motorcycles? Fight the good fight and win.

I would show them a copy of the federal rules that treat electric bikes as non-motorized up to to given size of motor. Then I would give them some stats on car pollution and how many people are killed each year by cars and then I would suggest they adopt the federal standards. I might try to find standards that other colleges use. That does sound like theft. If someone locks their bike on my property or parks their car, it doesn't mean I get to keep it. If that doesn't work, make a public stink about carbon footprint, their bike confiscation policy, etc. I am on our towns Non-Motorized Transportation Advisory Board and I have found that you can embarrass people into changing if you have to. Do they impound cars if the license is not current? Do they check to see if people have a proper driving license for cars or endorsements for motorcycles? Fight the good fight and win.

Look into any groups that might help. Your local bicycle or alternative-transportation organization. Student associations. Local environmental/ecological groups. Etc.

whats the big deal about parking where the motorcycles are? is it not in a good/safe location too?

Please tell us the name of this lame school.

E-Bikes are to be treated as regular bicycles during the pilot program which ends on October 3rd 2009. E-Bikes are not motor vehicles under the act. There is usually one uninformed person behind the scenes playing cop when they have no right to. I would certainly give it the old college try and park where bicycles park and ignore this wanna be.... After All....They can't ticket you...Can They?

E-Bikes are to be treated as regular bicycles during the pilot program which ends on October 3rd 2009. E-Bikes are not motor vehicles under the act. There is usually one uninformed person behind the scenes playing cop when they have no right to. I would certainly give it the old college try and park where bicycles park and ignore this wanna be.... After All....They can't ticket you...Can They?

Yes, generally college security can ticket vehicles (including bicycles) illegally parked on campus. I would take the matter higher up the administrative feeding chain before defying the ban. Perhaps a letter to the University Counsel's Office quoting the relevant language from the Act or Regulation which groups electric-assist bikes with bikes rather than motor vehicles, and asking the University's reasons for not following the law. Copies to the campus newspaper, perhaps.

get the ticket, then fight it.

When you fight something, at least you have rights. But, if you go around asking for permission, all they have to do is ignore you.

If you are not feeling up to it, then form a petition and fund raiser so the cost of the ticket is covered before you get charged.......then fight it.

your first motion when you are fighting the ticket, could be to ask for the suspension of all ticketing until the hearing/investigation is complete.

odds are that the university does not have any specific language the addresses electric bikes, if they haven't defined it, and you are infront of them fighting your case, then a reasonable person would default back to other definitions of bicycles , and motorcycle. If that other definition works in your favor, then the person judging may award you the case even if he doesn't want to.

but going around asking things like "please sir..." isn't going to help you if they already have a preconcieved notion that motorized bicycles are bad.

what the heck is the problem ? ride your ebike and park it where motorcycles park instead
of whine on the internets...you'll get better results 'doing' than 'complaining'

as a person that owns a harley, I was quite anoyed at the local university because their designated motorcycle parking is at the far end of the parking lots completely away from the kind of foot traffic that adds security and prevents theft problems.

I used to use the university fitness facility but now I've switched to a private club

I would register it as a bicycle and park it in the bike racks if it is a converted bicycle. If it looks like a scooter, you probably will have problems. I see mopeds locked up to bike racks on Penn State campus, I don't know if that's a transient condition before the cops lay down the law or not.

The fact that it looks like a scooter should have no bearing on where you can park your bike. It is recognized by law as a power assisted bicycle and by law can park where bicycles park. The Department of Transportation is interested in what is under the hood, not on appearance. Let us
not judge a bike by its cover. Your electric bike is not a motorized vehicle by law. Park where bicycles park and ignore the knockers. When Horse and Buggy ruled the roads, it was the motorized vehicles who were the unwanted guests. Times Change, people don't. I agree with SeizeTech.

so what school is this again? lol